UCLA Health – Enrique Rivero

Emergency Departments, Behavioral Health and More

Health Affairs Blog

In the United States, a substantial proportion of health care costs is allocated to low-value care: patient care providing no net health benefit, such as early diagnostic imaging for uncomplicated low-back pain.

Becker’s Healthcare – Morgan Haefner

Healthcare services costing $538 or less were administered much more frequently than services exceeding that cost. For the study, researchers — led by John Mafi, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a natural scientist in health policy at the RAND Corporation — analyzed data for 44 low-value health services in 2014.

Research Suggests a Reduction in ‘Low Value’ Services Can Safely Cut Expenses

Science Daily

Analyzing data on 5.5 million patients in Virginia, the researchers found that services providing no net health benefits to patients cost that state’s health care system more than $586 million in 2014. Of that amount, 65 percent went to low-cost, high-volume services such as unnecessary lab tests.